Zee News directed by NBDSA to take down videos on ‘Mehndi Jihad’
New Delhi: In a move to prevent broadcast of anti-Muslim content, the self-regulatory authority News Broadcasters and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) recently directed Zee News to take down all videos that it had aired about the purported ‘Mehndi Jihad’, clarifying that the videos violated media guidelines related to neutrality.
NBDSA, taking action against the programme aired by Zee News, said that the matter was baseless and had hateful content. The Authority has also warned Zee News and instructed it to exercise professional responsibility while broadcasting such content in future.
Furthermore, NBDSA Chairperson former Supreme Court judge Justice AK Sikri has asked Times Now Navbharat to remove tickers on two broadcasts on ‘Love Jihad’, with the complainant stating that the tickers were communal and vilified Muslims.
It is understood that action was taken on the news channel based on a complaint filed by one Indrajeet Ghorpade (@jeetxg) after the programme was aired in October 2024.
Ghorpade has complained that Zee News’ programmes promoted the campaign of a Hindutva group’s urging Hindu women not to get Muslims to apply mehndi during the Karwa Chauth festival that is round the corner. He has alleged that the group has accused Muslims of spitting into and also mixing non-vegetarian matter into the mehndi that they apply on Hindu women.
Referring to ‘Jihad’, the complaint has stated that the group has accused the artists pretend to be Hindus as a part of a conspiracy to marry Hindu women and also plan to forcibly convert them. In addition, the group planned to police mehndi artists by checking their Aadhaar cards and performed pujas on lathis saying it would beat up artists who did not conform to its demands if the authorities did not act, Ghorpade recalled.
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Police refused to file FIR in Baramati plane crash; our suspicion growing stronger, says Rohit Pawar
Mumbai (PTI): NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar on Wednesday claimed that the Mumbai police refused to file an FIR in connection with the plane crash, in which Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was killed, and said the refusal has deepened the suspicion surrounding the accident.
The government and the machinery appeared to be protecting someone, he alleged.
Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday directed the grounding of four aircraft of VSR Ventures, whose plane crashed at Baramati on January 28, killing Ajit Pawar and four others.
Following the crash of the Learjet 45 aircraft (VT-SSK), the aviation regulator had ordered a special safety audit of VSR Ventures, and the audit team observed several non-compliances of approved procedures in the area of airworthiness, air safety, and flight operations.
In a message posted on a social media platform, Rohit Pawar claimed, "While awaiting appropriate action regarding Ajitdada's plane crash, yesterday the DGCA report arrived stating that this accident was caused by the negligence of VSR company."
However, since no FIR has been filed in this regard, he along with party MLC Amol Mitkari, Idris Naikwadi and MLA Sandeep Kshirsagar, went to the Marine Drive police station in south Mumbai to demand registration of an FIR under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), he said.
He claimed that when the process to record his statement began, a senior police official refused to register the FIR and instead accepted their application merely as a formality.
"The conduct of the police has further intensified our suspicion regarding the plane crash. If even after demands by elected representatives from both the opposition and the ruling parties the police are discarding the demand to register an FIR, it is unfortunate for Maharashtra," Pawar, who represents the Karjat-Jamkhed assembly constituency in Ahilyanagar district, said in the post.
The government and the machinery appeared to be protecting someone, he alleged, and questioned whether Ajit Pawar would get justice if such a situation persisted.
The NCP (SP) legislator said they would not relent until the matter is taken to its logical conclusion.
He added that at 9 am on Thursday, all those who love his uncle Ajit Pawar would go to the Baramati taluka police station to press for registration of an FIR.
While the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is expected to come out with its preliminary report into the fatal crash before February 28, concerns have been raised in certain quarters claiming there could have been a conspiracy that led to the crash.
